"All right; take this young man for protection, and get to the cave as quick as you can. You gals wait in the cave till you-all hear from us again. Send Mike down trail to Jeb to hurry Simms and then escort Mrs.

Brewster home. We're ridin' up yander to work," ordered Bill, authoritatively.

Eleanor turned her horse's head to a faint trail that she was sure would bring them to the cave. Barbara and the cow-boy followed, while Bill and his men urged the horses to their utmost up the steep Slide.

"Thar's one good thing about this fire--it seems to be comin' down, and it don't travel near so quick that way, like-as-how it do when it goes upward. Mebbe we-all kin choke it in its first stages," explained Bill.

Eleanor and her two followers now reached the end of the little erosion made by a storm. Then the city girl found it really was no trail at all.

They sat their horses looking helplessly about while Barbara began to whimper with fear.

Even courageous Eleanor began to quail at what would befall them if they were lost, when Mike suddenly appeared in the distance, climbing the steep slope before them. His broncho came on recklessly through the bushes and wild undergrowth until he was within speaking distance then he shouted:

"Mike hear shoots! Gals in cabe alle-right. Mike smell fire. He go see who burn. Fin' tree bad miner--One gone happy hunting-groun',--two sleep f'm much fire-water. Tree hosses hobble on down trail." As he spoke he acted his words so that it was plain that he had found the three claim-jumpers who were dead drunk, and their mounts which were trying to break away in sheer fear of the fire.

"Mike, Bill and Mr. Brewster said you were to leave us in the cave, if it is safe there, and then ride down trail to meet Jeb and go on to stop Simms' party. Warn the lookout on the forest-ranger's post and then come back to us, but Jeb is to ride home with the Missus!" exclaimed Eleanor, excitedly.

Mike frowned. "Indian no like squaw job!"

"That's just what I was going to say, Mike. Now if you will put us on the right trail, we three can find the way to the cave. We will stay there with the other girls, and let you do as you think best, _after_ you send Jeb away to meet Simms," said Eleanor.

"Mike mus' tell Boss and Bill 'bout fire. Him eat down-hill, udder side Slide. No burn dis side."

Meantime, the Indian was leading the way to the trail that would bring the girls out at the ravine where the cave was. Once on the right trail, the youth whom Bill had sent with the girls, said he could keep to it without going astray.

Mike waited but a moment to a.s.sure himself that they would be safe along the trail, then he started his horse up the steep side. His keen Indian scout habits now stood him in good stead. He soon had the Sheriff's party tracked and was riding after them. His young broncho galloped along until the group of men bound for the Slide, were hailed by a war-whoop.

Bill turned and saw the Indian close behind. He called a halt, and when the party stopped, the messenger was already in their midst.

"Fire up lodge-pole pine side. Eatin' down--dat way!" cried Mike, waving a hand at the side of the mountain away from them and the cave.

"Mike go see an' fin' tree miner. Dey hab big fight--two shoot one. Him dead. Udders drunk--gone 'sleep. Hosses tie up."

"Mike, you lead! Men fall in--we-all fight the fire first, then find the drunken miners and arrest them for manslaughter," ordered Bill, and thus the posse rode away.

CHAPTER III

AT CHOKO'S FIND

After losing the trail many times only to stumble into it again and again, and then slipping, sliding, or jolting down the steep side of the mountain where the timber-line ended near the cliff, Eleanor finally recognized the ravine where the cave was located.

"Oh, thank heavens! We're almost there," she cried, trying to find the easiest way down to the ledge.

Polly and Anne were sitting before the entrance to the cave, when they heard shouts and saw three weary riders coming along the rocky ledge that led to their refuge.

"Why--it's Nolla and Bob and a man!" exclaimed Polly, jumping up to run and meet the girls.

"What's wrong--any one hurt?" cried Anne, the moment she saw the faces of the girls.

Eleanor then told about the forest-fire, and where the men were. The more recent excitement had quite driven the story of Hank and his claim-jumpers from her mind. But Polly anxiously asked for her mother.

"Oh, yes--Simms and the party hadn't arrived when we left Four Mile Blaze. But they will be all right, as Mike is gone to meet them. Then your mother and Jeb will ride back to warn the forest-rangers about the fire," explained Barbara.

"Why, no, Bob. Don't you remember, Mike said he would have to tell Polly's father about the drunken men and the fire, first," Eleanor corrected her sister.

"Well, I'm not worrying about mother because she knows too much to run into unnecessary danger; but father always wants to save everybody and everything from disaster, and so takes his life in his hands, over and over again," Polly worried.

"Mr. Brewster'll be all right with Bill around, Miss Polly," said the young man who had accompanied the city girls. "No one is allowed to run any risks for nuthin', when the Sheriff is there to stop 'em."

"I just hope Bill _will_ keep father in bounds!" declared Polly.

Very little smoke reached the ravine, which was on the opposite side of the mountain from that where the fire raged, so the girls knew not how matters fared until late in the afternoon. Then, to their great relief, Mr. Brewster shouted a signal from the lodge-pole pine forest.

Polly gave an answering call, and then ran along the dangerous ledge until she reached the place where the pine trees had been blown down the day of the blizzard. Here she could see the dim outlines of several riders as they waited for some evidence that they were on the right trail.

Before Polly could climb the slope to wave her hat, she saw Mike riding up behind the party and then go on before them down the trail leading to the cave.

Polly was kept busy with answering the girls who stood at the cave entrance, and in calling to her parents and friends who were approaching as fast as the down-trail would permit. When they rode near enough for Polly to see their faces, she recognized her mother and Jeb in the party; she thought they expressed great concern over something that must have happened to the party--or perhaps something that might happen.

"Well, Polly, you've had all day to dig the gold out of your mine; got it tied in bags for us to lug home?" called Mr. Simms, jocularly.

"Mr. Simms, you needn't worry over that gold as long as there is something worse to trouble you. What is it?" answered Polly.

"Ha, ha, ha! Poll must be feeling lonesome; when she talks like this, it's a sure sign she needs jolly company," replied the lawyer.

"Maybe she thought we were chewed up by the grizzlies," added Mr.

Brewster, forcing a gayety similar to that of Mr. Simms.

"What's the matter with you men? Is there any danger from the fire?"

demanded Polly.

"No, the fire's burning over the down-slope on the other side. You know it won't come this way," returned Mrs. Brewster.

"Well, then--where are the other men? Did those drunken miners shoot any one?" persisted the girl.

"Don't bother with questions, Polly. Let us get some supper before we think of anything else," advised her mother.

Mike was soon busy unpacking the outfit for cooking, and Mrs. Brewster joined him to give any a.s.sistance he might need. Polly went over to her father to try and get more satisfactory information from him, regarding that day's experiences.

"Did you say the miners who came up ahead of us to-day were in Bill's custody, Daddy?"

"Ah didn't say anything; but now Ah'll _tell_ you-all that they are shipped safely to a place where they can do no harm."

"Oh! Did Bill go down the Trail with them?" continued Polly.

"No, Bill's man went down-trail to watch in case of any new trouble."